Advice from Taurus and Its Decanates
for a World Plagued by Financial Woes
By DW Sutton
Subheadings: Some Ancient Wisdom Spectacular Financial Transformation Astrology Behind What Happened Modern Day Orion Can We Learn and Change Our Ways
Charts: Age of Aquarius: Washington January 19, 1881 Aquarian Age: Washington Progressed to September 15, 1969 Aquarian Age: Washington Progressed to January 30, 1988 Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Aquarius is a sign of progressive change and in 1881 things changed. That's when the man in the sky with his urn full of spectacular information and technological wonders invited humanity to experience a brand new way of living — a New Civilization: And the chart for the Aquarian Age timed what would change, when it would change and where it would change. The result was the 20th-century. The only things that didn't change were the astrological messages being sent by the constellated decanates in the sky.
The Age of Aquarius commenced January 19, 1881 at 8.48pm GMT. Taurus is the sign of money and banks and in the Aquarian Age chart Neptune — the planet of idealism, easy money, stocks, shares and fantasy expectation — is in the second decanate; and Pluto — the planet of cooperation, globalization, mass production, crime, coercion, obsessive behavior and spirituality — is in the third. And in these troubled times they're sending urgent messages to a world plagued by financial woes.
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The first — Determination — decanate of Taurus — the money decanate of the money sign — is pictured by the constellation Lepus — a hare that is timidly running away. It's the place of the soul's exaltation and every human soul is born with an innate desire for money and material things, but when timidity and fear contaminate the urge it easily transforms into an insatiable lust for money. If this occurs Lepus — blinded by physical aims — warns of moral weakness and spiritual infirmity.
The second — Struggle — decanate of the money sign is pictured by the constellation Orion — a hunter in combat with the Bull of wealth. Orion stands for financial equality and he's doing battle with those who want more than their fare share of the financial spoils. He supports money making and wealth creation but his main message is about giving money a spiritual value by using it to benefit all and sundry not just a paltry few.
The third — Mastership — decanate of Taurus is pictured in the sky by Auriga. With one hand he guides the chariot of his soul and with the other he helps and protects the weak and needy. Auriga’s help may or may not be financial but his message is clear — a country's spiritual development (Pluto) largely depends upon its financial power and how it uses this power to assist those who are less well off or in poverty and distress.
It seems reasonable to conclude that as the 20th-century progressed the world gradually went money mad. Money and gold became the new religion but as Lepus — the timid hare — made a dash for the cash there was no modern day Orion in sight to ensure its fair and equal distribution.
In 1900 consumer debt was rare — in fact it was considered a social indignity. It was a tough world with few social support networks. Lending money was a risky business and very often illicit. But when the usury laws were repealed in the US (during World War 1) the stage was set for the modern credit economy: And people began to borrow money. During the 1920s, in response to the demand for small loans and installment credit, finance companies developed; but in 1929 when the desire for material things turned into an 'insatiable lust for money' the stock market crashed and American and the world suffered a Great Depression.
It was during the 1930s that the larger capitalist institutions in the US got into the money lending business. Banks started to lend personal loans to working class people and risk free loans to home owners who had steady jobs. By the end of the decade World War 11 had taken center stage, but when it ended and the rest of the world was rebuilding American was poised to enjoy what economists call the Golden Age of American Capitalism: The most prosperous 20-year period in US history.
Aquarius and Pluto were mass producing the most amazing products and everyone had to have one. Consumer credit fueled consumption as people accepted the invitation to borrow money based on the expectation of future income. The first credit card — Diners Club — appeared in 1949 and around 1970 came Visa. In the 1970s credit became socially acceptable — enthusiastic borrowers needed enthusiastic lenders — and electronic money made spending easy. Credit cards were fun — a deck of cards was better — but you did have to play your cards right. The modern day capitalist economy was being built on consumer credit.
Then in the 1980s financial deregulation swept the globe. Banks were able to trade freely in the international foreign exchange and money markets and by 1990 the biggest lenders for housing and personal credit were the banks. Deregulation meant more freedom to invent new ways of making more money. By the 1990s credit cards had replaced personal loans, but working out who would and who wouldn't default on their repayments was a tricky business — until off-the-shelf financial risk modeling software became available: And that's when the credit-card investment industry really started to expand. The world was awash with money. The new age loan-sharks promised money for nothing and the drinks were free. It was all so exciting. Everyday trillions of dollars whizzed around the globe in search of a good investment — or a fast buck. The 1990s proved that capitalism's great invention — that you could make more money by investing the money you've got — was true.
Economic glitches occurred and every now and then the financial sector shuddered, but there was always a young, very well educated, financial cowboy ready to accept capitalism's invitation to risk it all on a pot of gold. To them 1929 never existed. And by now society had a new set of financial rules and values. It was socially acceptable to live your life on borrowed money — to live now and pay later — and to finance your life with a plastic card. Debt was good — it was deceptively easy to buy your way up the ladder of success — and besides, as a credit card user, you were helping to finance the world's economic prosperity. The bankers had changed their behavior too. It wasn't a matter of 'do you really need this money?' or 'can you afford to repay it? It was a simple: 'how much can we lend you?' In 2008 the credit card debt that's accruing interest because it's not being paid off was $33 billion.
By Y2000 the dash for cash had become a financial frenzy and the world's financial institutions and banks had consolidated their position as the real power behind the President or whoever. The bankers were pulling the strings and they wanted their just desserts — bigger and bigger bonuses. And why not? They're the ones with the financial expertise needed to run a sophisticated Aquarian Age financial system, but it's just the size of those bonus packages that irks.
Now there's another side to this spectacular—20th-century—financial extravaganza that's best told by Taurus—the sign of money and banks—in the Aquarian Age chart. In the beginning — back in 1881 — Neptune and Pluto set the scene, but in August 1924 when progressed Venus moved to Taurus she invited everyone to experience the joy of money. But the joy didn't last long and in 1930 it turned to struggle and despair. Progressed MC in the US chart had moved to the second — Struggle — decanate of Taurus in July 1924 and it stayed there till July 1934. It indicated that America would struggle more than most and in September 1936 Venus moved in.
In 1955 Venus moved to the third decanate of Taurus: And in January 1957 progressed Saturn—planet of security, self-preservation and greed—moved to the first decanate stimulating the ‘lust for money’. In 1960 Barrett Strong's hit song 'Money — that's what I want' became the financial anthem of the New Age. Then, in January 1961, a major — very significant — astrological event occurred. Progressed Jupiter in Aries moved to form a conjunction aspect with progressed Saturn and that's when the business of making money got very serious. And in February 1963 when Jupiter moved to Taurus — Lepus got frightened — and humanity's desire for material things turned into a frenzied dash for cash. The aspect was perfect in September 1969 and loitered on till September 1978. It, more than any other astrological event during the 20th-century, changed the way the world conducted its financial affairs. Its influence on financial culture was stunning. And with five progressed planets in Taurus — progressed Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto — it was getting mighty crowded.
In February1971 progressed Sun — planet of governments — moved to Taurus: A sure sign that the world's political leaders were about to join the financial party and pretty soon you'd become an economic statistic — a measure of the economy's productivity. Then in May 1971 progressed Venus, after turning retrograde, was about to make a return visit to the Struggle decanate. There were now six progressed planets in Taurus — the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn in the first decanate, Venus and Neptune in the second decanate and Pluto in the third — and they were all singing that song. The desire for money and material things was expanding so fast the economy couldn't keep up.
In 1977 money, money, money and economic growth became the new mantra and in 1981 progressed Sun entered the struggle decanate. In January 1986 progressed Mercury moved to Taurus — and between then and July 2000 money was the #1 topic of conversation. There were now seven planets in Taurus and between January 1986 and January 2000 the world went money mad. It was all so exciting. In 1989 progressed Venus moved back to the first decanate and with progressed Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn also there the 'lust for money and material things' became a full-blown obsessive fixation. Humanity was blinded by physical aims. In 1991 progressed Sun moved to the third decanate.
In February 2002 progressed Sun moved to Gemini — it set the stage for social media — and in March 2005 progressed Jupiter moved to the second — Struggle — decanate. Birthchart Neptune was waiting there and in June 2007 when Jupiter — the conceited wealth magnet — moved to form a conjunction aspect with the planet of easy money and trillion dollar dreams there was no doubt that the bankers and financiers would unwittingly accept Neptune's invitation to the financial utopia the aspect promised. But Neptune never keeps his promises and during 2008 the financial dream turned into a nightmare on Wall Street. In 2010 an epic struggle played itself out on the world stage as Orion — the US Government and President Obama — tried to reign in the financial self-indulgence and retrieve from the banks and financial institutions — the infuriated Bull — the US tax payers' bailout money. But this 21st-century struggle to reign in the bankers and their conceited financial practices simply replays a timeless story that ancient astrologers warned would recur whenever the desire for material things turned into a selfish lust for money.
Back in 1933 — on March 4 — when Franklin D Roosevelt was sworn in as President he told his struggling nation: 'The money changers have fled from the high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself'. Saturn is the planet of fear — the fear of poverty, destitution, unemployment, disease and death — and while his 'fear' comment hit the right note it wasn't original. He got it from the US author Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862) who got it from French writer and essayist Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) who wrote: 'The thing I fear most is fear'. Roosevelt had four planets in Taurus — Saturn in the first decanate; Jupiter and Neptune in the second decanate; and Pluto in the third — and FDR was destined to play the role of a modern day Orion.
On April 13, 1933 — five weeks after his inauguration — the US nation observed President's Day and in the June 1933 edition of The National Astrologer Elbert Benjamine commented on the financial struggle that was afflicting the American nation. He wrote: 'On that day — April 13 — the Sun passed into the second decanate of the sign Taurus. Taurus, as every astrologer knows, is associated with money. And this date was set apart to do homage to the man who is making so valiant a struggle to free his people from the afflictions of a money-mad world.'
'The second decanate of Taurus, where the Sun is on this day, is represented by the constellation Orion. A mighty bull is pictured with his horns to the earth, even as the money powers have pinioned the people in poverty for the past few years. Orion wields a great club and does battle with the Bull. The key-word for the decanate is Struggle. And the day commemorated the struggle of our president against the powers of money greed. He uses the 'big stick' quite as effectively as does Orion'.
The financial calamity that afflicted the world in 2008 was nothing new and the on-going repercussions tell a sorry story. The gap (Pluto) between the rich and poor — and the rich countries and the poor countries — grows bigger by the day as unregulated greed (Saturn) reaps misery and despair as witnessed by the number of people who are currently unemployed (Oct 2012) in America (12,500,000), Spain (5,639,000), Britain (2,500,000) and Greece (1,000,000 plus) and the 64 million people around the globe who were forced into poverty by the GFC. They live on $1.25 per day. And no one is safe as Jupiter fuels the grab for cash by proclaiming that wealth and a large income are the best recipes for happiness — he's such a shallow thinker. But how can a modern day Orion destroy the lust for money and material things that afflicts humanity? How can political and other leaders — through political legislation — stop the wealth accumulation of the rich and encourage a more even and fair distribution of the national and international wealth? How can a modern day Orion convince the rich countries that sharing their wealth is a spiritual asset? That's what the Struggle decanate of Taurus is all about. It's a matter of political purification — of smiting the sacrilegious idol of money and purifying the greed that unwittingly sees wealth as the one and only happiness provider.
During the 20th-century the stimulation to Taurus in the Aquarian Age chart was non-stop: And this stimulation replicated itself as world-wide financial change and transformation. Putting things in perspective is easy. Between 1895 and 1914 there were four progressed planets in Aries and between 1914 and 1924 there were three . Between 1909 and 1940 progressed Sun and progressed Mercury were in Pisces and as the century progressed all the planets except Mars and Uranus converged into Taurus. What happened was destined by the stars and the evidence indicates that an awful lot went wrong. If things had gone right there would have been a lot more financial stability. And the financial transformation has still got a long way to go. The main stimulation in the Aquarian Age chart throughout the 21st-century will involve Taurus — the sign of the Golden Calf. Progressed Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto will be there for the entire century. Progressed Venus will be there till 2049 and progressed Mars will move in in 2034. That's when the competition for money will really heat-up. Between then and 2076 there will be five progressed planets in Taurus and Mars and Saturn spell strife, struggle, money wars, selfish greed and recurring financial catastrophe, unless humanity heeds the ancient wisdom written in the sky and changes its ways.
